"It's unnerving," one laughed, noting how odd it is that a
Romney big gun might help break the stubborn tie in the
electorate in Obama's favor.

They speculate that Christie, who always puts Christie first,
has decided that it's better for his presidential ambitions to
be a maverick blue-state governor with a Democratic chief
executive exiting in 2016 than to have President Romney and
Tea-Party Republicans in Congress pulling him over to the
extreme right for the next eight years.

He also knows he'll need a boatload of federal cash to make his
state whole again.

Here are three theories about Christie:

1) The first, most benign theory: Christie, in my
experience, is a deeply emotional and highly sentimental man, and
he is torn-up about the devastation along the Jersey Shore. The
support he's received from President Obama -- the support he
receives from anyone -- at such a wrenching moment, makes him
inordinately grateful. And President Obama has been extremely
attentive.

2) To add to Maureen's theory, Christie is an impatient
guy, and the idea of running in 2016 is much more appealing to
him than running in 2020. He will have faded from memory by 2020,
in any case; plus Paul Ryan, who will have been vice president
for four or eight years, would be a formidable challenger. For
2016, Christie is in the top-tier of Republican candidates. In
2020, who knows?